7 September 2015

When history is on the move
the changes run all over the place. The job of the communists is invariably to
urge history on, and to push all the players, including the bourgeoisie, to
play their parts to the utmost extent.

The phrase "permanent
revolution" belongs first to Marx, and not to Trotsky. It comes from the
March, 1850 Address given by Karl Marx to the Central Committee of the
Communist League, of which "permanent revolution" are the last two
words. See the attachment or below for a link to a downloadable file of this
great document.

"Permanent
revolution" only means a qualitative change that will be defended.

It does not mean that the
revolution is irreversible.

Nor does it mean that the
same revolution has to be repeated constantly, like the punishment
of Sisyphus.

The March, 1850 Address to
the Communist League is an internationalist document. At the time, the newly
formed communist organisations were active all over Europe, in a time when
monarchies were falling and feudalism was on the way out in many countries.

This document is also a
fore-runner of the National Democratic
Revolution. In those days, there were revolutionary class struggles going
on between the bourgeoisie and the feudal reactionaries, and also between the
bourgeoisie and the new proletariat that it was creating. Marx shows that class
alliances were necessary, and that democracy needed to be extended to the
utmost possible degree. Class alliance and democracy remain the key elements of
the National Democratic Revolution.